Rollors: Something NEW for Father’s Day!

8 June 2011

Father’s Day is like a week and a half away — I know, I feel like I was JUST writing about giving your moms Chocolate Fix for Mother’s Day. Anyway, instead of getting your father another tie or some funny covers for his golf clubs – why not get him an awesome outdoor game? Yes, I know everyone and their brother has a game of bags (or “cornhole” depending on what part of the US you come from) and they probably have bocce, Jarts, washers, croquet or horseshoes lying around too. But those games are old, tired and everyone has them. Rollors is new, different and isn’t solely based on skill.

In my world, we don’t play bags anymore since my husband and his firefighting buddies starting playing on their off time at work and now I lose every stinking game. And they aren’t close games either! But that won’t happen with Rollors because there are two different numbers on the side of each puck which means it’s skill AND luck. Rollors is similar to other outdoor games because there are two targets laid out across the lawn from each other and you take turns rolling (not throwing) your three pucks at the targets. The cool part of the game is the scoring. Like I said each puck has a different number on each side, and whichever side ends facing up is what you’ll score if your puck is the closest to the target. Each team has a puck with a 6 on one side and a 1 on the other, also a 5 & 2 puck and a 3 & 4 puck. Once all of the pucks are rolled, you determine which puck is the closest and that player scores the number facing up on that puck. If another one of their pucks is the second closest, they get to score that one too and same goes for their third. The game is played until someone reaches 21 and wins by at least 2 points. And if there are augments about which puck is the closest, there’s a handy string that attaches to the targets that can help you measure.

Another factor that makes the game interesting is the surface you’re playing on. You can’t play Rollors on cement, you need to play on grass or sand and at my house…the grass isn’t that smooth. It made for some pretty interesting rolls and players had to avoid the “potholes” and “yard moguls” but it was all in good fun. My guess is if we had played at my father’s house the rolls would have been spot-on, but there’s some joy in heckling your opponent when he can’t seem to avoid the giant grass outcrop in the middle of the playing area. (You know who you are!)

And a quick note about the inventor: Air Force Officer Matt Butler (pic at right) came up with the idea for Rollors while he was serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Like many Air Force personnel, he was daydreaming about hanging out in his backyard with his family, playing lawn games. These daydreams lead to the game you play today. He made the prototype in his garage and tested with with family and friends; and now his daydream is a reality.

Rollors Stats:

~$27 QVC.com, Amazon.com, Meijer, Menards, and MC Sports

2 players or in teams

~10-20 minutes

Ages 4 and up (although I’d say 6 and up)

http://majorfun.com Major Fun

Great review! I couldn’t agree more. We think Rollors is a great contribution to outdoor play – for families, kids, seniors, wheelchair bound. That’s why we gave it a Major Fun award.

Sweet to see Matt’s picture. He deserves all the success this game will bring him.